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Rainey said he's been getting a lot more reps at linebacker than he did last year at tight end, but he really hasn't received much feedback from linebackers coach Kirk Botkin on how he's looked. Rainey said he's still in the learning process, so he isn't bothered by the lack of communication with his coach, but he expects his play to garner a little more attention soon.

If this were late summer or fall, it may be important. As of now, Spring practice will give Coach Botkin plenty of film and notes to help the young man improve, as well as the entire unit he's in charge of. There are limits to what you can do in the Spring, the amount of hours you can spend with players, right? I'm sure there are different schools of thought but maybe he is a guy that likes to see where everyone is, then tailor what they need to work on for off-season workouts/film study/etc. culminating in more personal attention in the fall.

Bottom line, Rainey is getting more work now than he did before and I'm sure if you ask any player out there the amount of 1 on 1 time they receive with any particular coach is not abundant right now. Just my thought.

Don't look at it as an indictment on the coach but rather a compliment to the way Rainey has caught on at the LB position. Because he has apparently looked good in practice, Botkin has decided that his limited amount of time would be better spent helping players that seemed more in need of guidance.

Don't look at it as an indictment on the coach but rather a compliment to the way Rainey has caught on at the LB position. Because he has apparently looked good in practice, Botkin has decided that his limited amount of time would be better spent helping players that seemed more in need of guidance.

We are talking about Practice, practice lol I was at the practice Friday and Coach Botkin coached the LB's as a unit and was very vocal, coaches have to look at film of a player going full speed to give real feedback, they have practiced 6 times?

Botkin cant really give Rainey any feedback as of now. Today will be the first full contact scrimmage and will be the first test that Botkin will be able to give Rainey some real feedback. I'm sure Botkin has not given any LBs much feedback because they have yet to perform under the lights in live game situations.

watch the video that the story is based on at gamecocksonline. 2 minute after practice interview. i think what rainey was saying is he has gotten a bunch of positive feedback because there are still the little things he has to work on since he only has a few practices at the position.

thats probably by design from botkin. at this point its just about getting better and it starts with the little things. then itll progress to what you have to work on and continue to do to get playing time or a starting job. just my guess, but i think that will come when all the backers get more acclimated to their positions. we havent even seen them in a scrimmage yet.

Didn't mean to come off as sounding over-critical as many of you have obviously taken my comment. It just came off as very strange that Rainey would say he has had little to no feedback. Not hating on Botkin, as I haven't said anything about him as a hire to this point.

watch the video that the story is based on at gamecocksonline. 2 minute after practice interview. i think what rainey was saying is he has gotten a bunch of positive feedback because there are still the little things he has to work on since he only has a few practices at the position.

thats probably by design from botkin. at this point its just about getting better and it starts with the little things. then itll progress to what you have to work on and continue to do to get playing time or a starting job. just my guess, but i think that will come when all the backers get more acclimated to their positions. we havent even seen them in a scrimmage yet.

Inexcusable? That's a pretty big jump? There is only so much coaches can do in Spring Practice, Rainey is not the only one that needs coaching. We know way too little about this to say something like that.

Edit: I will fully admit is sounds strange, but I think part of that is that we as fans have been worried about the Linebacker position more than the coaches have. I believe they know they will have a solid 2 deep with some true freshmen backing them up, plus a few hybrids to mix in if necessary. In the grand scheme of things, there is only so much a player can do in the spring anyway, are they even allowed to wear pads? I don't think so, and Rainey has obviously been doing pretty well. I just think its not as big a deal as it may seem, it may sound a lot different if we knew the actual question he was asked to get that response.

Inexcusable? That's a pretty big jump? There is only so much coaches can do in Spring Practice, Rainey is not the only one that needs coaching. We know way too little about this to say something like that.

Edit: I will fully admit is sounds strange, but I think part of that is that we as fans have been worried about the Linebacker position more than the coaches have. I believe they know they will have a solid 2 deep with some true freshmen backing them up, plus a few hybrids to mix in if necessary. In the grand scheme of things, there is only so much a player can do in the spring anyway, are they even allowed to wear pads? I don't think so, and Rainey has obviously been doing pretty well. I just think its not as big a deal as it may seem, it may sound a lot different if we knew the actual question he was asked to get that response.